| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | 第4-5页 |
| 摘要 | 第5-8页 |
| ABSTRACT | 第8-11页 |
| Chapter One INTRODUCTION | 第17-23页 |
| 1.1 Background of the Research | 第17-19页 |
| 1.2 Significance of the Research | 第19-20页 |
| 1.3 Organization of the Thesis | 第20-23页 |
| Chapter Two LITERATURE REVIEW | 第23-46页 |
| 2.1 A General Description of the English Middle Construction | 第23-33页 |
| 2.1.1 Definition of the English middle construction | 第23-24页 |
| 2.1.2 Development of the English middle construction | 第24-33页 |
| 2.2 Theoretical Studies on the English Middle Construction at Home and Abroad | 第33-40页 |
| 2.2.1 Theoretical studies of the English middle construction abroad | 第33-37页 |
| 2.2.2 Theoretical studies of the English middle construction at home | 第37-40页 |
| 2.3 Empirical Studies on the Middle Construction at Home and Abroad | 第40-42页 |
| 2.3.1 Empirical studies on the English middle construction abroad | 第40-41页 |
| 2.3.2 Empirical studies of the English middle construction at home | 第41-42页 |
| 2.4 The Grey Areas to be Studied | 第42-46页 |
| Chapter Three THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK | 第46-76页 |
| 3.1 Cognitive Semantics | 第46-52页 |
| 3.1.1 Conceptual metonymic theory | 第46-48页 |
| 3.1.2 Conceptual blending theory | 第48-52页 |
| 3.2 Cognitive Approaches to Grammar | 第52-73页 |
| 3.2.1 Construction grammar | 第52-69页 |
| 3.2.2 Coercion theory | 第69-71页 |
| 3.2.3 Construal theory | 第71-73页 |
| 3.3 A Proposed Framework | 第73-76页 |
| Chapter Four RESEARCH METHODOLOGY | 第76-84页 |
| 4.1 Research Questions | 第76-77页 |
| 4.2 The Corpus | 第77-78页 |
| 4.3 Data and Data Collection | 第78-80页 |
| 4.4 Data Analysis | 第80-84页 |
| Chapter Five RESULTS AND DISCUSSION | 第84-116页 |
| 5.1 General Analysis of the English Middle Construction | 第84-88页 |
| 5.1.1 Componential characteristics of the English middle construction | 第84-87页 |
| 5.1.2 Classification of the English middle construction | 第87-88页 |
| 5.2 Analysis of the English Middle Construction with AP | 第88-106页 |
| 5.2.1 Formal and semantic characteristics of the English middle constructionwith AP | 第88-93页 |
| 5.2.2 Cognitive motivation of the English middle construction with AP | 第93-99页 |
| 5.2.3 Construal mechanism of the English middle construction with AP | 第99-102页 |
| 5.2.4 Metonymic mechanism of the English middle construction with AP | 第102-104页 |
| 5.2.5 Interrelationships of the components in the English middle constructionwith AP | 第104-106页 |
| 5.3 Analysis of the English Middle Construction with Zero-adjunct | 第106-116页 |
| 5.3.1 Formal and semantic characteristics of the English middle constructionwith zero-adjunct | 第106-107页 |
| 5.3.2 Cognitive motivation of the English middle construction with zero-adjunct | 第107-109页 |
| 5.3.3 Construal mechanism of the English middle construction with zero-adjunct | 第109-111页 |
| 5.3.4 Polysemic interpretation of the English middle construction withzero-adjunct | 第111-114页 |
| 5.3.5 Interrelationships of the components in the English middle constructionwith zero-adjunct | 第114-116页 |
| Chapter Six CONCLUSION | 第116-121页 |
| 6.1 Major Findings of the Research | 第116-117页 |
| 6.2 Implications of the Study | 第117-118页 |
| 6.3 The Limitations and Further Research Suggestions | 第118-121页 |
| REFERENCES | 第121-131页 |
| Appendix: 179 Middle Verbs Chosen for Retrival | 第131-132页 |
| 附录： 作者在攻读硕士学位期间发表的论文 | 第132页 |
